Many traits make human beings unique, not the least of which is our ability to cooperate with one another. But exactly how we choose to do that — particularly with nonfamily members — can be complicated.

For men, that choice relies partially on perceptions of productivity and material benefit, just as it would have in an ancestral hunter-gatherer society. So finds a new study by UC Santa Barbara psychologists, which appears in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

Many UCSB pre-med students choose to build their professional foundations at the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, the only department on this campus that investigates the brain at all levels – from its molecular dynamics to perception and behavior. Its Biopsychology major has become a hub for future physicians intending to specialize in neurology, neuropsychiatry, and related fields. The major offers rigorous courses in neuroanatomy, neuropharmacology, and neurodevelopment, and excelling undergraduates can take some of these courses at the graduate level.

Psychological & Brain Sciences Professor Mike Miller is shown below completing exercises with the Defense Science Study Group. Professor Miller was appointed to the group to share his expertise in cognitive neuroscience which has been increasingly recognized by the defense community as able to provide insight into the human challenges faced by intelligence services.

The Human Behavior & Evolution Society announced that Psychological & Brain Sciences Professor Leda Cosmides and Department of Anthropology Professor John Toobey are the 2016 winners of the HBES Lifetime Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution.

In her time at UCSB, Enders has distinguished herself as an experienced undergraduate researcher. At the campus-based Center for Nanotechnology in Society, she assisted in research on public perceptions of the risks and benefits of hydraulic fracturing. As a participant in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Sustainability Research Program, she focused on sustainability psychology and took the lead on research design and statistical analyses.

When the Ebola virus was ravaging western Africa in 2015, a curious thing happened: Americans whose chances of being infected were effectively zero became terrified of the disease. What’s more, some of these people began to advocate xenophobic policies that medical experts said would only make the situation worse.